- •Lecture 8 Topic: Water resources problems
- •1. Importance of Water for Life
- •2. Ecological consequences of water deficiency and water pollution
- •3. Sources of water pollution
- •4. Sustainable strategies on water resources problem. International cooperation
- •Lecture 9
- •Scheme: An overview of the ecological issues
- •3. Ecological crisis and ecological situations
- •4. Modern Ecological crisis: Pollution.
- •6. Global energy balance and Greenhouse effect.
- •7. Global warming, its sources and solving the problem of sustainably. International cooperation on climate change problem.
- •Population stability, Reforestation, Recycling, Energy efficiency, Renewable energy technologies
- •International cooperation on climate change problem
- •Lecture 10 Topic: Stratosphere Ozone Depletion. Acid Rains.
- •1. The nature of ozone and mechanism of ozone layer work
- •2. Ozone depletion: history, sources & the effects of ozone layer destruction
- •3. Air pollution wet & dry smog, indoor pollution
- •Indoor air pollution. Public health problem
- •4. The nature, source & the effects of acid rain.
- •5. Sustainable strategies on ozone layer & acid rain problems. International cooperation
- •Industries can help to prevent further damage to the ozone layer:
- •International cooperation on acid rains control
- •Lecture 11
- •1. Human populations:
- •2. Population growth. Limits to Growth.
- •3. Basic demographic processes:
- •Lecture 12 Topic: Economic aspects of environmental sustainability
- •3. Concept of externalities
- •5. Solutions of reducing poverty
- •6. Sustainable strategies on economy
International cooperation on acid rains control
The Convention on Transboundary Long-Range Air Pollution, LRTAP (Geneva, 1979).
The aim of the Convention is:
- to limit and, as far as possible, gradually reduce and prevent air pollution including long-range transboundary air pollution;
- to develop policies and strategies to combat the discharge of air pollutants through exchanges of information, consultation, research and monitoring.
Lecture 11
Topic: Human population. Demography. Urbanization
Section objectives:
Human populations:Population growth. Limits to growth
Basic Demographic processes.
Urban problems in developing & developed countries
Ways to achieve urban sustainability
1. Human populations:
World population now: 6.93 billion (Jan, 2011)
Demography — is the study of the factors that affect rates of birth, death, and growth in populations. In making predictions about a population's growth, it is necessary to know its age structure.
Current Birth and Death Rates
Every second: about 4 children are born, while about 2 other people die
72 mln humans added to the world population every year.
Population Characteristics
Demographic transition – the process whereby a country moves from relatively high birth and death rates to relatively low birth and death rates due to improved living conditions, that usually accompanies economic development.
Stage 1 – Preindustrial: high birth and death rates, so population grows very slowly.
Stage 2 – Transitional – high birth rate and lowered death rate, so population grows very rapidly.
Stage 3 – Industrial – a decline in birth rate and low death rate, so slow population growth occurs. In developed countries low fertility rate is due to high female literacy.
Stage 4 – Postindustrial – a population grows very slowly or not at all.
Population pyramids - is the age structure that is illustrated as a pyramid with the length of each tier showing the number of males (left side) and number of females (right side) in a particular age group of individuals: Prereproducti\e Reproductive and Postreprodictive. Because of age structure, a population that reduces its fertility rate to the replacement level (2.1 children) will continue to grow for another 30 to 50 >ears. This phenomenon, called population momentum, occurs because of the large number of prereproductive individuals that exist in the population.
Age group of individuals:
Pre-reproductive (0–14 years)
Reproductive (15–44 years)
Post-reproductive (45 years and older)
Age structure pyramid
These population pyramids, showing distribution of population bv age. indicate that Country B has a much greater growth potential than Country A has stable growing
Replacement level = 2.1 children
2. Population growth. Limits to Growth.
Perspectives
Overpopulation causes resource depletion and environmental degradation
Human ingenuity and technology will allow us to overcome any problems - more people may be beneficial
Resources are sufficient to meet everyone's needs - shortages are the result of greed, waste, and oppression:
There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need, but not for man's greed. ~Mohandas Gandhi~
For most populations, limiting factors recognized as components of environmental resistance can be placed into 4 main categories:
Raw material availability
Energy availability
Accumulation of waste products
Interactions among organisms
World is divided into 2 segments based on economic development:
More-developed countries - 1.4 bln: per capita income > $10,000.
Europe, Canada, US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand.
Stable populations.
Expected to grow 3% by 2050.
Less-developed countries - 5.53 bln : per capita income < $5,000.
High population growth rates. Will grow 52% by 2050 (86% of world population).
Ecological footprint – is a measure of land area required to provide human food, energy, water, housing, transportation & waste disposal for one person.
To be ecologically sustainable, each person should consume no more than 1.8 ha of land (ecological footprint).
Data in table is given as global hectares per capita. The world-average ecological footprint in 2007 was 2.7 global hectares per person (18.0 billion in total). With a world-average biocapacity of 1.8 global hectares per person (12 billion in total), this leads to an ecological deficit of 0.9 global hectares per person (6 billion in total). If a country does not have enough ecological resources within its own territory, then there is a local ecological deficit and it is called an ecological debtor country. Otherwise, it has an ecological remainder and it is called an ecological creditor country
Country |
Population in millions |
Ecological Footprint in gha/pers |
Biocapacity in gha/pers |
Ecological remainder (if positive) in gha/pers |
United States |
308.67 |
8.00 |
3.87 |
-4.13 |
Mongolia |
2.61 |
5.53 |
15.14 |
9.61 |
Saudi Arabia |
24.68 |
5.13 |
0.84 |
-4.29 |
Germany |
82.34 |
5.08 |
1.92 |
-3.16 |
France |
61.71 |
5.01 |
3.00 |
-2.01 |
Italy |
59.31 |
4.99 |
1.14 |
-3.85 |
UnitedKingdom |
61.13 |
4.89 |
1.34 |
-3.55 |
Japan |
127.40 |
4.73 |
0.60 |
-4.13 |
Kazakhstan |
15.41 |
4.54 |
4.01 |
-0.53 |
Russia |
141.94 |
4.41 |
5.75 |
1.34 |
Ukraine |
46.29 |
2.90 |
1.82 |
-1.08 |
China |
1336.55 |
2.21 |
0.98 |
-1.23 |
Uzbekistan |
26.90 |
1.74 |
0.92 |
-0.82 |
Kyrgyzstan |
5.35 |
1.25 |
1.34 |
0.09 |
India |
1164.67 |
0.91 |
0.51 |
-0.40 |
Factors That Influence Human Population Growth
- Humans (unlike other species) are influenced by biological, social, political, economic, and ethical factors.
Able to make conscious decisions and adjust lives accordingly.
Biological Factors
Main factor of population growth rate: # of women with children & # of children each woman has.
Total fertility rate - # of children a woman has during her lifetime: rate of 2.1 = replacement fertility level;
Zero population growth: birth rate = death rate
Social Factors
Education level of women: If level of education increases, fertility rates fall. Why?
a) Financial independence leads to later marriage.
b) Educated women are more likely use birth control.
In some cultures women desire large families:
Where infant mortality is high, it is traditional to have large families since not all children may survive.
Parents feel secure when there are many children to look after them in old age.
Economic Factors:
In less developed countries, the economic benefits of children are extremely important.
Even young children can be given jobs that contribute to the family economy, such as protecting livestock, gathering firewood, or carrying water.
In the developed world, large numbers of children are an economic drain.
They are prevented from working.
They must be sent to school at great expense.
They consume large amounts of the family income.
Political Factors
Governments can reward or punish high fertility rates.
European countries are concerned about low birth rates à policies to encourage having more children:
Paid maternity leave & guaranteed job fo a mother.
Childcare facilities.
Child tax deductions.
Most developing countries are concerned about fast population growth à programs to limit growth:
Education of population: family planning, maternal & child health.
Free or low-cost contraceptives.
One-child policy in China
Factors usually included in an analysis of standard of living:
Economic well-being
Health conditions
Social status and mobility
Economic measure of standard of living is average purchasing power per person.
Gross national income (GNI) is an index of purchasing power measuring total goods and services generated by citizens of a country.
Human populations can increase in size only if other plant and animal populations decrease in size